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104-509: Ammianus Marcellinus , a Roman army officer and historian of the 4th century, describes a Roman army advancing "ad carraginem" as they approach a Gothic camp. Historians interpret this as a wagon-fort. Notable historical examples include the Hussites , who called it vozová hradba ("wagon wall"), known under the German translation Wagenburg ("wagon fort/fortress"), tabors in the armies of

208-500: A coat of arms ), and indeed they played an essential role in the development of heraldry . As heavier armour, including enlarged shields and enclosed helmets, developed in the Middle Ages, the need for marks of identification arose, and with coloured shields and surcoats , coat armoury was born. Armorial rolls were created to record the knights of various regions or those who participated in various tournaments . Knights used

312-498: A blend of religious duties, love and military service. Ramon Llull 's Book of the Order of Chivalry (1275) demonstrates that by the end of the 13th century, chivalry entailed a litany of very specific duties, including riding warhorses, jousting , attending tournaments , holding Round Tables and hunting, as well as aspiring to the more æthereal virtues of "faith, hope, charity, justice, strength, moderation and loyalty." Knights of

416-594: A head of state, monarch, or prelate to selected persons to recognise some meritorious achievement, as in the British honours system , often for service to the Church or country. The modern female equivalent in the English language is Dame . Knighthoods and damehoods are traditionally regarded as being one of the most prestigious awards people can obtain. The word knight , from Old English cniht ("boy" or "servant"),

520-527: A hill within a wagon fort, they were drawn into charging out prematurely, when their enemy pretended to retreat. The Utraquists would be reconciled with the Catholic Church afterwards. Thus ended the wagon fort's impact on Czech history. The first victory against the wagon fort at the Battle of Tachov showed that the best ways to defeat it were to prevent it from being erected in the first place or to get

624-499: A knight or a group of knights would claim a bridge, lane or city gate, and challenge other passing knights to fight or be disgraced. If a lady passed unescorted, she would leave behind a glove or scarf, to be rescued and returned to her by a future knight who passed that way. One of the greatest distinguishing marks of the knightly class was the flying of coloured banners, to display power and to distinguish knights in battle and in tournaments. Knights are generally armigerous (bearing

728-400: A knight was a vassal who served as an elite fighter or a bodyguard for a lord, with payment in the form of land holdings. The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback . Knighthood in the Middle Ages was closely linked with horsemanship (and especially the joust ) from its origins in the 12th century until its final flowering as a fashion among the high nobility in

832-547: A knight". An Equestrian ( Latin , from eques "horseman", from equus " horse ") was a member of the second highest social class in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire . This class is often translated as "knight"; the medieval knight, however, was called miles in Latin (which in classical Latin meant "soldier", normally infantry). In the later Roman Empire, the classical Latin word for horse, equus ,

936-506: A major spectator sport but also played as a real combat simulation. It usually ended with many knights either injured or even killed. One contest was a free-for-all battle called a melee , where large groups of knights numbering hundreds assembled and fought one another, and the last knight standing was the winner. The most popular and romanticized contest for knights was the joust . In this competition, two knights charge each other with blunt wooden lances in an effort to break their lance on

1040-904: A man-at-arms, not all men-at-arms were knights. The first military orders of knighthood were the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and the Knights Hospitaller , both founded shortly after the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Order of Saint Lazarus (1100), Knights Templars (1118), the Order of Montesa (1128), the Order of Santiago (1170) and the Teutonic Knights (1190). At the time of their foundation, these were intended as monastic orders , whose members would act as simple soldiers protecting pilgrims. It

1144-474: A more realistic approach to warfare than the honor-bound code of chivalry. Soon, the remaining knights were absorbed into professional armies. Although they had a higher rank than most soldiers because of their valuable lineage, they lost their distinctive identity that previously set them apart from common soldiers. Some knightly orders survived into modern times. They adopted newer technology while still retaining their age-old chivalric traditions. Examples include

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1248-509: A reward for extraordinary military service. Children of the nobility were cared for by noble foster-mothers in castles until they reached the age of seven. These seven-year-old boys were given the title of page and turned over to the care of the castle's lords. They were placed on an early training regime of hunting with huntsmen and falconers , and academic studies with priests or chaplains. Pages then become assistants to older knights in battle, carrying and cleaning armour, taking care of

1352-505: A square, and inside the square would usually be the cavalry. There were two principal stages of the battle using the wagon fort: defensive and counterattack. The defensive part would be a pounding of the enemy with artillery. The Hussite artillery was a primitive form of a howitzer , called in Czech a houfnice , from which the English word howitzer comes. Furthermore, they called their guns

1456-479: A variety of weapons, including maces , axes and swords . Elements of the knightly armour included helmet , cuirass , gauntlet and shield . The sword was a weapon designed to be used solely in combat; it was useless in hunting and impractical as a tool . Thus, the sword was a status symbol among the knightly class. Swords were effective against lightly armoured enemies, while maces and warhammers were more effective against heavily armoured ones. One of

1560-470: A wounded comrade. The Persians besieged and eventually sacked Amida, and Ammianus barely escaped with his life. When Ursicinus was dismissed from his military post by Constantius, Ammianus too seems to have retired from the military; however, reevaluation of his participation in Julian's Persian campaign has led modern scholarship to suggest that he continued his service but did not for some reason include

1664-492: A young man with weapons influenced the emergence of knighthood ceremonies, in which a noble would be ritually given weapons and declared to be a knight, usually amid some festivities. These mobile mounted warriors made Charlemagne's far-flung conquests possible, and to secure their service he rewarded them with grants of land called benefices . These were given to the captains directly by the Emperor to reward their efforts in

1768-457: Is a cognate of the German word Knecht ("servant, bondsman, vassal"). This meaning, of unknown origin, is common among West Germanic languages (cf Old Frisian kniucht , Dutch knecht , Danish knægt , Swedish knekt , Norwegian knekt , Middle High German kneht , all meaning "boy, youth, lad"). Middle High German had the phrase guoter kneht , which also meant knight; but this meaning

1872-673: Is described in the Chinese historical record Book of Han . During the 119 BC Battle of Mobei of the Han–Xiongnu War , the famous Han general Wei Qing led his army through a fatiguing expeditionary march across the Gobi Desert only to find Yizhixie chanyu 's main force waiting to encircle them on the other side. Using armored heavy wagons known as "Wu Gang Wagon" ( Chinese : 武剛車 ) in ring formations, which provided Chinese archers , crossbowmen and infantry protection from

1976-501: Is just and mild, and when he condemns the actions of Christians, he does not do so on the basis of their Christianity as such. His lifetime was marked by lengthy outbreaks of sectarian and dogmatic strife within the new state-backed faith, often with violent consequences (especially the Arian controversy ) and these conflicts sometimes appeared unworthy to him, though it was territory where he could not risk going very far in criticism, due to

2080-672: The comitatus (field army) of Sabinianus. While on a mission near Nisibis, Ammianus spotted a Persian patrol which was about to try and capture Ursicinus, and warned his commander in time. In an attempt to locate the Persian Royal Army, Ursicinus sent Ammianus to Jovinianus, the semi-independent governor of Corduene , and a friend of Ursicinus. Ammianus successfully located the Persian main body and reported his findings to Ursicinus. After his mission in Corduene, Ammianus left

2184-517: The Battle of Nancy , when Charles the Bold and his armoured cavalry were decimated by Swiss pikemen. As the feudal system came to an end, lords saw no further use of knights. Many landowners found the duties of knighthood too expensive and so contented themselves with the use of squires. Mercenaries also became an economic alternative to knights when conflicts arose. Armies of the time started adopting

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2288-523: The Black Army of Hungary ). At the Battle of Varna in 1444, it is said that 600 Bohemian handgunners (men armed with early shoulder arms) defended a wagon fortification. The Germans would also use wagons for fortification. They used much cheaper materials than the Hussites, and different wagons for infantry and artillery. The Russians also used a type of movable fortress, called a guliai-gorod in

2392-654: The Duchy of Burgundy in the 15th century. This linkage is reflected in the etymology of chivalry , cavalier and related terms such as the French title chevalier . In that sense, the special prestige accorded to mounted warriors in Christendom finds a parallel in the furusiyya in the Islamic world . The Crusades brought various military orders of knights to the forefront of defending Christian pilgrims traveling to

2496-592: The Early Medieval period, any well-equipped horseman could be described as a knight, or miles in Latin. The first knights appeared during the reign of Charlemagne in the 8th century. As the Carolingian Age progressed, the Franks were generally on the attack, and larger numbers of warriors took to their horses to ride with the Emperor in his wide-ranging campaigns of conquest. At about this time

2600-462: The German word Lager ("camp" or "lair") and the Dutch leger which also gives English 'leaguer' ("military camp"). The word refers to the ancient defensive formation used by travelers throughout the world in dangerous situations in which they would draw wagons into a circle and place cattle and horses on the inside to protect them from raiders or nocturnal animals. Laagers were extensively used by

2704-531: The Holy Land . In the Late Middle Ages, new methods of warfare – such as the introduction of the culverin as an anti-personnel, gunpowder-fired weapon – began to render classical knights in armour obsolete, but the titles remained in many countries. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519) is often referred to as the "last knight" in this regard; however, some of the most iconic battles of

2808-620: The Hussites developed tactics of using the tabors, called vozová hradba in Czech or Wagenburg by the Germans , as mobile fortifications . It was first used in the Battle of Nekmíř . When the Hussite army faced a numerically superior opponent, the Bohemians usually formed a square of the armed wagons, joined them with iron chains, and defended the resulting fortification against charges of

2912-591: The Knights Hospitaller , such as the Siege of Rhodes and the Great Siege of Malta , took place after his rule. The ideals of chivalry were popularized in medieval literature , particularly the literary cycles known as the Matter of France , relating to the legendary companions of Charlemagne and his men-at-arms , the paladins , and the Matter of Britain , relating to the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of

3016-662: The Ostrogoths , were mainly cavalry. However, it was the Franks who generally fielded armies composed of large masses of infantry , with an infantry elite, the comitatus , which often rode to battle on horseback rather than marching on foot. When the armies of the Frankish ruler Charles Martel defeated the Umayyad Arab invasion at the Battle of Tours in 732, the Frankish forces were still largely infantry armies, with elites riding to battle but dismounting to fight. In

3120-649: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Cossacks , and the laager of settlers in South Africa . Similar, ad hoc , defensive formations used in the United States were called corrals . These were traditionally used by 19th century American settlers travelling to the West in convoys of Conestoga wagons . One of the earliest written claims of using conjoined mobile shields as fortification

3224-561: The Praetorian Guard , where he gained firsthand experience in various military campaigns. He served as an officer in the army of the emperors Constantius II and Julian . He served in Gaul (Julian) and in the east (twice for Constantius, once under Julian). He professes to have been "a former soldier and a Greek" ( miles quondam et graecus ), and his enrollment among the elite protectores domestici (household guards) shows that he

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3328-524: The Voortrekkers of the Great Trek during the 1830s. The laager was put to the ultimate test on 16 December 1838, when an army of 10,000–15,000 Zulu Impis besieged and were defeated by approximately 460 Voortrekkers in the aptly named Battle of Blood River . In 19th century America, the same approach was used by pioneers who would "circle the wagons" in case of attack. Leaguer was used in

3432-414: The lance . Padded undergarment known as aketon was worn to absorb shock damage and prevent chafing caused by mail. In hotter climates metal rings became too hot, so sleeveless surcoats were worn as a protection against the sun, and also to show their heraldic arms . This sort of coat also evolved to be tabards , waffenrocks and other garments with the arms of the wearer sewn into it. Helmets of

3536-472: The 10th century. While the knight was essentially a title denoting a military office, the term could also be used for positions of higher nobility such as landholders. The higher nobles grant the vassals their portions of land ( fiefs ) in return for their loyalty, protection, and service. The nobles also provided their knights with necessities, such as lodging, food, armour, weapons, horses, and money. The knight generally held his lands by military tenure which

3640-412: The 13th and the first half of the 14th century. Around 1350, square shields called bouched shields appeared, which had a notch in which to place the couched lance . Until the mid-14th century, knights wore mail armour as their main form of defence. Mail was extremely flexible and provided good protection against sword cuts, but weak against blunt weapons such as the mace and piercing weapons such as

3744-528: The 16th century. A danish peasant rebellion in 1441, culminating in the battle of St. Jørgensbjerg also used the war fortresses. The leader of the danish peasants were led by Henrik Reventlow who had participated in the Hussite Wars and had learned of the war fortress by participating in Albert II’s war against the Hussite . There he saw what a formidable defence the war fortress was, and then used it in

3848-600: The 380s, Ammianus wrote a Latin history of the Roman empire from the accession of Nerva (96) to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople (378), in effect writing a continuation of the history of Tacitus . At 22.16.12 he praises the Serapeum of Alexandria in Egypt as the glory of the empire, so his work was presumably completed before the destruction of that building in 391. The Res gestae ( Rerum gestarum libri XXXI )

3952-635: The British Army for temporary overnight camps made by armoured formations. A tabor is a convoy or a camp formed by horse-drawn wagons. For example, nomadic Romani used to wander and camp in tabor formations. Tabors supported the armies in Europe between the 13th and 20th centuries. Tabors usually followed the armies and carried all the necessary supplies and rear units, such as field kitchens , armourers or shoemakers . The tactics were later copied by various armies of Central Europe , including

4056-650: The Courtier , and Miguel de Cervantes ' Don Quixote , as well as Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and other Arthurian tales ( Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Historia Regum Britanniae , the Pearl Poet 's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , etc.). Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of the Kings of Britain ), written in the 1130s, introduced the legend of King Arthur , which

4160-420: The Czech word píšťala ( hand cannon ), in that they were shaped like a pipe or a fife , from which the word pistol is possibly derived. When the enemy approached near enough, crossbowmen and hand-gunners emerge from the wagons and inflict more casualties at close range. There would even be stones stored in a pouch inside the wagons for throwing should the soldiers run out of ammunition. After this huge barrage,

4264-548: The East twice under Ursicinus. He travelled with Ursicinus to Italy in an expedition against Silvanus , an officer who had proclaimed himself emperor in Gaul . Ursicinus ended the threat by having Silvanus assassinated, then stayed in the region to help install Julian as Caesar of Gaul, Spain and Britain. Ammianus probably met Julian for the first time while serving on Ursicinus' staff in Gaul. In 359, Constantius sent Ursicinus back to

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4368-513: The English rider : German Ritter , and Dutch and Scandinavian ridder . These words are derived from Germanic rīdan , "to ride", in turn derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *reidh- . In ancient Rome , there was a knightly class Ordo Equestris (order of mounted nobles). Some portions of the armies of Germanic peoples who occupied Europe from the 3rd century AD onward had been mounted, and some armies, such as those of

4472-443: The Franks increasingly remained on horseback to fight on the battlefield as true cavalry rather than mounted infantry, with the discovery of the stirrup , and would continue to do so for centuries afterwards. Although in some nations the knight returned to foot combat in the 14th century, the association of the knight with mounted combat with a spear, and later a lance, remained a strong one. The older Carolingian ceremony of presenting

4576-718: The Norwegian Order of St. Olav . There are also dynastic orders like the Order of the Golden Fleece , the Imperial Order of the Rose , the Order of the British Empire and the Order of St. George . In modern times these are orders centered around charity and civic service, and are no longer military orders. Each of these orders has its own criteria for eligibility, but knighthood is generally granted by

4680-1012: The Round Table . Today, a number of orders of knighthood continue to exist in Christian Churches, as well as in several historically Christian countries and their former territories, such as the Roman Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta , the Protestant Order of Saint John , as well as the English Order of the Garter , the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim , the Spanish Order of Santiago , and

4784-518: The Xiongnu's powerful cavalry charges , and allowed Han troops to utilize their ranged weapons ' advantages of precision . Wei Qing neutralised the Xiongnu 's initial cavalry charges, forcing a stalemate and buying time for his troops to recover strength, before using the cover of a sandstorm to launch a counteroffensive which overran the nomads . In the 15th century, during the Hussite Wars ,

4888-689: The ancient Greek hippeis (ἱππεῖς) and Roman equites . In the Early Middle Ages in Western Christian Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors. During the High Middle Ages , knighthood was considered a class of petty nobility . By the Late Middle Ages , the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry , a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior. Often,

4992-459: The army of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . In the 16th and 17th centuries, these tactics were also mastered by the Cossacks , who used their tabors for the protection of marching troops as well. Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus , occasionally anglicised as Ammian ( Greek : Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born c.  330 , died c.  391  – 400),

5096-432: The characteristic sequence of earthquake, retreat of the sea, and sudden incoming giant wave. Knight This is an accepted version of this page A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of knighthood may have been inspired by

5200-670: The code of chivalry as unrealistic idealism. The rise of Christian humanism in Renaissance literature demonstrated a marked departure from the chivalric romance of late medieval literature, and the chivalric ideal ceased to influence literature over successive centuries until it saw some pockets of revival in post-Victorian literature. By the mid to late 16th century, knights were quickly becoming obsolete as countries started creating their own standing armies that were faster to train, cheaper to equip, and easier to mobilize. The advancement of high-powered firearms contributed greatly to

5304-603: The conquests, and they in turn were to grant benefices to their warrior contingents, who were a mix of free and unfree men. In the century or so following Charlemagne's death, his newly empowered warrior class grew stronger still, and Charles the Bald declared their fiefs to be hereditary, and also issued the Edict of Pîtres in 864, largely moving away from the infantry-based traditional armies and calling upon all men who could afford it to answer calls to arms on horseback to quickly repel

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5408-528: The constant and wide-ranging Viking attacks, which is considered the beginnings of the period of knights that were to become so famous and spread throughout Europe in the following centuries. The period of chaos in the 9th and 10th centuries, between the fall of the Carolingian central authority and the rise of separate Western and Eastern Frankish kingdoms (later to become France and Germany respectively) only entrenched this newly landed warrior class. This

5512-407: The decline in use of plate armour, as the time it took to train soldiers with guns was much less compared to that of the knight. The cost of equipment was also significantly lower, and guns had a reasonable chance to easily penetrate a knight's armour. In the 14th century the use of infantrymen armed with pikes and fighting in close formation also proved effective against heavy cavalry, such as during

5616-470: The devil and not God, and needed reforming. In the course of the 12th century, knighthood became a social rank with a distinction being made between milites gregarii (non-noble cavalrymen) and milites nobiles (true knights). As the term "knight" became increasingly confined to denoting a social rank, the military role of fully armoured cavalryman gained a separate term, " man-at-arms ". Although any medieval knight going to war would automatically serve as

5720-488: The east to help in the defence against a Persian invasion led by king Shapur II himself. Ammianus returned with his commander to the East and again served Ursicinus as a staff officer. Ursicinus, although he was the more experienced commander, was placed under the command of Sabinianus, the Magister Peditum of the east. The two did not get along, resulting in a lack of cooperation between the Limitanei (border regiments) of Mesopotamia and Osrhoene under Ursicinus' command and

5824-427: The elbows and shoulders were covered with circular pieces of metal, commonly referred to as rondels , eventually evolving into the plate arm harness consisting of the rerebrace , vambrace , and spaulder or pauldron . The legs too were covered in plates, mainly on the shin, called schynbalds which later evolved to fully enclose the leg in the form of enclosed greaves . As for the upper legs, cuisses came about in

5928-438: The enemy would be demoralized. The armies of the anti-Hussite crusaders were usually heavily armored knights . Hussite tactics were to disable the knights' horses so that the dismounted (and ponderous) knights would be easier targets. Once the commander saw fit, the second stage of battle would begin. Men with swords , flails , and polearms would spring out and attack the weary enemy. Alongside this infantry, cavalry would leave

6032-493: The enemy. Such a camp was easy to establish and practically invulnerable to enemy cavalry . The etymology of the word tabor may come from the Hussite fortress and modern day Czech town of Tábor , which itself is a name derived from biblical Jezreel mountain Tabor (in Hebrew תבור). The crew of each wagon consisted of 18 to 21 soldiers: 4 to 8 crossbowmen, 2 handgunners, 6 to 8 soldiers equipped with pikes or flails, 2 shield carriers and 2 drivers. The wagons would normally form

6136-422: The experience of the soldiers but at the cost of ignoring the bigger picture. As a result, it is difficult for the reader to understand why the battles he describes had the outcome they did. Ammianus' work contains a detailed description of the earthquake and tsunami of 365 in Alexandria , which devastated the metropolis and the shores of the eastern Mediterranean on 21 July 365. His report describes accurately

6240-568: The first form of medieval horse coverage and was used much like the surcoat. Other armours , such as the facial armouring chanfron, were made for horses. Knights and the ideals of knighthood featured largely in medieval and Renaissance literature , and have secured a permanent place in literary romance . While chivalric romances abound, particularly notable literary portrayals of knighthood include The Song of Roland , Cantar de Mio Cid , The Twelve of England , Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Knight's Tale , Baldassare Castiglione 's The Book of

6344-474: The growing and volatile political connections between the church and imperial power. Ammianus was not blind to the faults of Christians or of pagans and was especially critical of them; he commented that "no wild beasts are so hostile to men as Christian sects in general are to one another" and he condemns the emperor Julian for excessive attachment to (pagan) sacrifice, and for his edict effectively barring Christians from teaching posts. While living in Rome in

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6448-434: The headquarters at Amida in the retinue of Ursinicus, who was on a mission to make sure the bridges across the Euphrates were demolished. They were attacked by the Persian vanguard, who had made a night march in an attempt to catch the Romans at Amida unprepared. After a protracted cavalry battle, the Romans were scattered; Ursicinus evaded capture and fled to Melitene, while Ammianus made a difficult journey back to Amida with

6552-517: The history of his own times without indulging the prejudices and passions which usually affect the mind of a contemporary." But he also condemned Ammianus for lack of literary flair: "The coarse and undistinguishing pencil of Ammianus has delineated his bloody figures with tedious and disgusting accuracy." Austrian historian Ernst Stein praised Ammianus as "the greatest literary genius that the world produced between Tacitus and Dante ". According to Kimberly Kagan , his accounts of battles emphasize

6656-472: The horses, and packing the baggage. They would accompany the knights on expeditions, even into foreign lands. Older pages were instructed by knights in swordsmanship , equestrianism , chivalry, warfare, and combat (using wooden swords and spears). When the boy turned 14, he became a squire . In a religious ceremony, the new squire swore on a sword consecrated by a bishop or priest , and attended to assigned duties in his lord's household. During this time,

6760-417: The importance of Christian faith in every area of a knight's life, though still laying stress on the primarily military focus of knighthood. In the early Renaissance greater emphasis was laid upon courtliness. The ideal courtier—the chivalrous knight—of Baldassarre Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier became a model of the ideal virtues of nobility. Castiglione's tale took the form of a discussion among

6864-497: The knight of the early periods usually were more open helms such as the nasal helmet , and later forms of the spangenhelm . The lack of more facial protection lead to the evolution of more enclosing helmets to be made in the late 12th to early 13th centuries, this eventually would evolve to make the great helm . Later forms of the bascinet , which was originally a small helm worn under the larger great helm, evolved to be worn solely, and would eventually have pivoted or hinged visors,

6968-449: The late medieval era were expected by society to maintain all these skills and many more, as outlined in Baldassare Castiglione 's The Book of the Courtier , though the book's protagonist, Count Ludovico, states the "first and true profession" of the ideal courtier "must be that of arms." Chivalry , derived from the French word chevalier ('cavalier'), simultaneously denoted skilled horsemanship and military service, and these remained

7072-417: The loss of the first thirteen books, the remaining eighteen are in many places corrupt and lacunose . The sole surviving manuscript from which almost every other is derived is a ninth-century Carolingian text, Vatican lat. 1873 ( V ), produced in Fulda from an insular exemplar. The only independent textual source for Ammianus lies in Fragmenta Marbugensia ( M ), another ninth-century Frankish codex which

7176-1133: The master of the ceremony would dub the new knight on the shoulders with a sword. Squires, and even soldiers , could also be conferred direct knighthood early if they showed valor and efficiency for their service; such acts may include deploying for an important quest or mission, or protecting a high diplomat or a royal relative in battle. Knights were expected, above all, to fight bravely and to display military professionalism and courtesy. When knights were taken as prisoners of war, they were customarily held for ransom in somewhat comfortable surroundings. This same standard of conduct did not apply to non-knights ( archers , peasants , foot-soldiers , etc.) who were often slaughtered after capture, and who were viewed during battle as mere impediments to knights' getting to other knights to fight them. Chivalry developed as an early standard of professional ethics for knights, who were relatively affluent horse owners and were expected to provide military services in exchange for landed property . Early notions of chivalry entailed loyalty to one's liege lord and bravery in battle, similar to

7280-439: The men inside to charge out prematurely after a feint. Such solutions meant the fortification lost its prime advantage. The importance of the wagon fort in Czech history diminished, but the Czechs would continue to use the wagon forts in later conflicts. After the Hussite Wars , foreign powers such as the Hungarians and Poles who had confronted the destructive forces of Hussites, hired thousands of Czech mercenaries (such as into

7384-403: The mid 14th century. Overall, plate armour offered better protection against piercing weapons such as arrows and especially bolts than mail armour did. Plate armor reached his peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, but was still used at the beginning of the 17th century by the first Cuirassiers like the London lobsters . Knights' horses were also armoured in later periods; caparisons were

7488-454: The most popular was the hounskull , also known as the "pig-face visor". Plate armour first appeared in the 13th century, when plates were added onto the torso and mounted to a base of leather. This form of armour is known as a coat of plates , and was initially used over chain mail in the 13th and 14th centuries, at the time of Transitional armour . The torso was not the only part of the knight to receive this plate protection evolution, as

7592-469: The nobility of the court of the Duke of Urbino, in which the characters determine that the ideal knight should be renowned not only for his bravery and prowess in battle, but also as a skilled dancer, athlete, singer and orator, and he should also be well-read in the humanities and classical Greek and Latin literature. Later Renaissance literature, such as Miguel de Cervantes 's Don Quixote , rejected

7696-435: The opponent's head or body or unhorse them completely. The loser in these tournaments had to turn his armour and horse over to the victor. The last day was filled with feasting, dancing and minstrel singing. Besides formal tournaments, there were also unformalized judicial duels done by knights and squires to end various disputes. Countries like Germany , Britain and Ireland practiced this tradition. Judicial combat

7800-445: The peasant rebellion. While it’s not certain how the fortress was built, it still played a crucial role in defending Husby against a more well equipped army under Christopher of Bavaria . While the fortress did defend Husby initially, Henrik’s army was defeated after much of his army had left. The casualties of the peasant army is speculated to be 6,000-25,000. Henrik was executed shortly after by Christoffer. Another use of this tactic

7904-764: The period in his history. He accompanied Julian, for whom he expresses enthusiastic admiration, in his campaigns against the Alamanni and the Sassanids . After Julian's death, Ammianus accompanied the retreat of the new emperor, Jovian , as far as Antioch. He was residing in Antioch in 372 when a certain Theodorus was thought to have been identified the successor to the emperor Valens by divination. Speaking as an alleged eyewitness, Marcellinus recounts how Theodorus and several others were made to confess their deceit through

8008-510: The poor text of the 1474 edition; the 1474 edition was pirated for the first Froben edition (Basle, 1518). It was not until 1533 that the last five books of Ammianus' history were put into print by Silvanus Otmar and edited by Mariangelus Accursius . The first modern edition was produced by C.U. Clark (Berlin, 1910–1913). The first English translations were by Philemon Holland in 1609, and later by C.D. Yonge in 1862. Edward Gibbon judged Ammianus "an accurate and faithful guide, who composed

8112-459: The primary elements of a knight's armour was the shield , which could be used to block strikes and projectiles. Oval shields were used during the Dark Ages and were made of wooden boards that were roughly half an inch thick. Towards the end of the 10th century, oval shields were lengthened to cover the left knee of the mounted warrior, called the kite shield . The heater shield was used during

8216-482: The primary occupations of knighthood throughout the Middle Ages. Chivalry and religion were mutually influenced during the period of the Crusades . The early Crusades helped to clarify the moral code of chivalry as it related to religion. As a result, Christian armies began to devote their efforts to sacred purposes. As time passed, clergy instituted religious vows which required knights to use their weapons chiefly for

8320-412: The protection of the weak and defenseless, especially women and orphans, and of churches. In peacetime, knights often demonstrated their martial skills in tournaments, which usually took place on the grounds of a castle. Knights could parade their armour and banner to the whole court as the tournament commenced. Medieval tournaments were made up of martial sports called hastiludes , and were not only

8424-521: The square and strike. The enemy would be eliminated, or very nearly so. The wagon fort was later used by the crusading anti-Hussite armies at the Battle of Tachov (1427). Anti-Hussite German forces, unfamiliar with this type of strategy, were defeated. The Hussite wagon fort strategy failed at the Battle of Lipany (1434), where the Utraquist faction of Hussites defeated the Taborite faction. On

8528-407: The squire was eligible to be knighted. The accolade or knighting ceremony was usually held during one of the great feasts or holidays, like Christmas or Easter , and sometimes at the wedding of a noble or royal. The knighting ceremony usually involved a ritual bath on the eve of the ceremony and a prayer vigil during the night. On the day of the ceremony, the would-be knight would swear an oath and

8632-457: The squires continued training in combat and were allowed to own armour (rather than borrowing it). Squires were required to master the seven points of agilities – riding, swimming and diving, shooting different types of weapons, climbing, participation in tournaments, wrestling , fencing , long jumping , and dancing – the prerequisite skills for knighthood. All of these were even performed while wearing armour. Upon turning 21,

8736-425: The transmutation of the term "knight" from the meaning "servant, soldier", and of chevalier "mounted soldier", to refer to a member of this ideal class, is significantly influenced by the Crusades , on one hand inspired by the military orders of monastic warriors, and on the other hand also cross-influenced by Islamic ( Saracen ) ideals of furusiyya . The institution of knights was already well-established by

8840-517: The use of torture, and cruelly punished. He eventually settled in Rome and began the Res gestae . The precise year of his death is unknown, but scholarly consensus places it somewhere between 392 and 400 at the latest. Modern scholarship generally describes Ammianus as a pagan who was tolerant of Christianity. Marcellinus writes of Christianity as being a "plain and simple" religion that demands only what

8944-484: The values of the Heroic Age . During the Middle Ages, this grew from simple military professionalism into a social code including the values of gentility, nobility and treating others reasonably. In The Song of Roland (c. 1100), Roland is portrayed as the ideal knight, demonstrating unwavering loyalty, military prowess and social fellowship. In Wolfram von Eschenbach 's Parzival (c. 1205), chivalry had become

9048-473: Was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius ). Written in Latin and known as the Res gestae , his work chronicled the history of Rome from the accession of the Emperor Nerva in 96 to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Only the sections covering the period 353 to 378 survive. Ammianus

9152-500: Was a servant on horseback. A narrowing of the generic meaning "servant" to "military follower of a king or other superior" is visible by 1100. The specific military sense of a knight as a mounted warrior in the heavy cavalry emerges only in the Hundred Years' War . The verb "to knight" (to make someone a knight) appears around 1300; and, from the same time, the word "knighthood" shifted from "adolescence" to "rank or dignity of

9256-459: Was because governing power and defense against Viking , Magyar and Saracen attack became an essentially local affair which revolved around these new hereditary local lords and their demesnes . Clerics and the Church often opposed the practices of the Knights because of their abuses against women and civilians, and many such as St. Bernard de Clairvaux were convinced that Knights served

9360-538: Was born in the East Mediterranean, possibly in Syria or Phoenicia , around 330, into a noble family of Greek origin. Since he calls himself Graecus ( lit. Greek), he was most likely born in a Greek-speaking area of the empire. His native language was Greek but he also knew Latin. The surviving books of his history cover the years 353 to 378. Ammianus began his career as a military officer in

9464-591: Was called a knight bachelor while a knight fighting under his own banner was a knight banneret . Some knights were familiar with city culture or familiarized with it during training. These knights, among others, were called in to end large insurgencies and other large uprisings that involved urban areas such as the Peasants' Revolt of England and the 1323–1328 Flemish revolt . A knight had to be born of nobility – typically sons of knights or lords. In some cases, commoners could also be knighted as

9568-414: Was copied from M. As L. D. Reynolds summarizes, "M is thus a fragment of the archetype; symptoms of an insular pre-archetype are evident." His handling from his earliest printers was little better. The editio princeps was printed in 1474 in Rome by Georg Sachsel and Bartholomaeus Golsch, which broke off at the end of Book 26. The next edition (Bologna, 1517) suffered from its editor's conjectures upon

9672-601: Was in decline by about 1200. The meaning of cniht changed over time from its original meaning of "boy" to "household retainer ". Ælfric 's homily of St. Swithun describes a mounted retainer as a cniht . While cnihtas might have fought alongside their lords, their role as household servants features more prominently in the Anglo-Saxon texts. In several Anglo-Saxon wills cnihtas are left either money or lands. In his will, King Æthelstan leaves his cniht, Aelfmar, eight hides of land. A rādcniht , "riding-servant",

9776-399: Was in fact not impartial, although he expresses an intention to be so, and had strong moral and religious prejudices. Although criticised as lacking literary merit by his early biographers, he was in fact quite skilled in rhetoric, which significantly has brought the veracity of some of the Res gestae into question. His work has suffered substantially from manuscript transmission. Aside from

9880-433: Was measured through military service that usually lasted 40 days a year. The military service was the quid pro quo for each knight's fief . Vassals and lords could maintain any number of knights, although knights with more military experience were those most sought after. Thus, all petty nobles intending to become prosperous knights needed a great deal of military experience. A knight fighting under another's banner

9984-465: Was of middle class or higher birth. Consensus is that Ammianus probably came from a curial family , but it is also possible that he was the son of a comes Orientis of the same family name. He entered the army at an early age, when Constantius II was emperor of the East, and was sent to serve under Ursicinus , governor of Nisibis in Mesopotamia , and magister militum . Ammianus campaigned in

10088-413: Was of two forms in medieval society, the feat of arms and chivalric combat. The feat of arms were done to settle hostilities between two large parties and supervised by a judge. The chivalric combat was fought when one party's honor was disrespected or challenged and the conflict could not be resolved in court. Weapons were standardized and must be of the same caliber. The duel lasted until the other party

10192-531: Was only over the following century, with the successful conquest of the Holy Land and the rise of the crusader states , that these orders became powerful and prestigious. The great European legends of warriors such as the paladins , the Matter of France and the Matter of Britain popularized the notion of chivalry among the warrior class. The ideal of chivalry as the ethos of the Christian warrior, and

10296-406: Was originally composed of thirty-one books, but the first thirteen have been lost. The surviving eighteen books, covering the period from 353 to 378, constitute the foundation of modern understanding of the history of the fourth century Roman Empire. They are lauded as a clear, comprehensive, and generally impartial account of events by a contemporary; like many ancient historians, however, Ammianus

10400-413: Was replaced in common parlance by the vulgar Latin caballus , sometimes thought to derive from Gaulish caballos . From caballus arose terms in the various Romance languages cognate with the (French-derived) English cavalier : Italian cavaliere , Spanish caballero , French chevalier (whence chivalry ), Portuguese cavaleiro , and Romanian cavaler . The Germanic languages have terms cognate with

10504-470: Was taken apart to provide covers for account-books during the fifteenth century. Only six leaves of M survive; however, before this manuscript was dismantled the Abbot of Hersfeld lent the manuscript to Sigismund Gelenius , who used it in preparing the text of the second Froben edition ( G ). The dates and relationship of V and M were long disputed until 1936 when R. P. Robinson demonstrated persuasively that V

10608-486: Was the very similar infantry squares deployed by Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo . Likewise the South African laager. The wagon forts would form into squares, supporting each other. Were an assault made between two forts, marksmen from both would easily exploit the advantage and kill many of the enemy. The English word laager comes from the obsolete Afrikaans word lager (now laer ), which comes from

10712-465: Was to be important to the development of chivalric ideals in literature. Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur ( The Death of Arthur ), written in 1469, was important in defining the ideal of chivalry, which is essential to the modern concept of the knight, as an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of faith , loyalty , courage , and honour . Instructional literature was also created. Geoffroi de Charny 's " Book of Chivalry " expounded upon

10816-507: Was too weak to fight back and in early cases, the defeated party were then subsequently executed. Examples of these brutal duels were the judicial combat known as the Combat of the Thirty in 1351, and the trial by combat fought by Jean de Carrouges in 1386. A far more chivalric duel which became popular in the Late Middle Ages was the pas d'armes or "passage of arms". In this hastilude ,

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